Studio Friday -- the perfect art book

Studio Friday's theme this week is The Perfect Art Book.

"As I was talking about books so much lately... if there was the ideal book for you as an artist on studios and life as an artist what would be the absolute most important thing in your eyes for it to have in it? What kinds of topics, elements, images would you love to have in it? A few words from your favourite artist as well? What would inspire you, what would support you, give you courage? Would you like it to be a big book with tons of pages or a small book?"

A few years ago I went with a bunch of friends to the huge Chicago quilt show (offspring of the enormous Houston show). I looked at quilts all day, and all day the next day, and then I just HAD to Make Something! Luckily my friends had planned an outing to Hobby Lobby, and even more luckily, one of them had brought along her entire stable of knitting needles "just in case anyone needed them." I bought some yarn, borrowed some needles, and cast on immediately for a scarf.....

Part of that quilt exhibition was a collection of journal quilts. A very large number of people had been inspired to make an 8.5"x11" quilt each month (or at least from January through September). It started as a one-time thing, but some people enjoyed this so much that they have continued to do it year after year.

Some examples.....

Here and here are some of Lesley Riley's pages....

Scroll down on this page to see Sandy Donabed's pages.

Karen Bettencourt's pages.


My ideal art book would be an enormous set of my favorites from all the journal quilts. Not images, but the actual pages.

My book would be VERY thick. It wouldn't have to be bound, it could just be the individual pages.

I would look through them, savoring the colors, soaking in the details, admiring the ideas, until I just Had to Make Something!